S T E A M B O AT
TODAY
TUESDAY
AUGUST 4, 2009
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
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Vol. 21, No. 185
RO U T T
C O U N T Y ’ S
DA I LY
N E W S PA P E R
S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
Hairless fox sighted Residents see animal similar to ones blamed in vanishing of 50 felines 5 years ago Page 4
S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
Udall’s chief of staff visits Michael Sozan talks with commissioners Monday about health care, stimulus Page 6
SPORTS
JOHN F. RUSSELL/STAFF
A sport utility vehicle makes its way along Routt County Road 14 on Monday morning. The Routt County Board of Commissioners is debating whether to spend $1 million to acquire a right of way along the road.
Million-dollar gamble
County debates spending money on C.R. 14 prior to grant award Brandon Gee
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Marshall sits out Page 13
■ LOTTO
■ INDEX Briefs . . . . . . . . .10 Classifieds . . . . .22 Colorado. . . . . . .32 Comics . . . . . . . .20 Crossword . . . . .21 Happenings . . . . .7
The issue began as a nobrainer. Routt County would apply for a $20 million grant available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to pay for its No. 1 road priority: a reconstruction of Routt County Road 14 from Colorado Highway 131 to Stagecoach State Park. The waters have been muddied, however. Now, the Routt
Horoscope . . . . .20 The Record. . . . .10 Scoreboard. . . . .19 Sports. . . . . . . . .13 ViewPoints . . . . . .8 Weather . . . . . . .17
Monday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 4-11-12-13-17 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
County Board of Commissioners must decide whether it can stomach fronting $1 million of its own money at a time when the county’s road and bridge fund reserves are projected to run dry in less than a decade and declining revenues have forced painful pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs. The county didn’t budget any money for C.R. 14 this year. “We originally thought we wouldn’t have to spend the money until we got the money,” Commissioner Diane Mitsch
■ WEATHER
Afternoon storm in the area. High of 83.
Page 17
Bush said. The problem has arisen because of a provision in the $787 billion federal economic stimulus bill that requires money to be spent within three years of its enactment, by Feb. 17, 2012. Routt County wouldn’t learn whether it won the grant until Feb. 17, 2010. Although that leaves enough time to complete the two-summer construction project, Heather McLaughlin, a senior engineer in the Road and Bridge Department, said the
deadline is impossible to meet unless 44 acres of right of way is acquired in advance. Additional federal guidelines add more wrinkles. It is unclear what would be required of the project under the National Environmental Protection Act, and, in order to qualify, the county would have to use a federal process to acquire right of way from 46 property owners along the road. That process costs $300,000 more than the See Road, page 11
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